AWKWARD ZOMBIE

"If you want the one who gave the execution order, you'd have to speak with the man just charged in after the soldiers," said Eris. "I was doing justice by revealing this terrorist group. Nobility is not some catch-all group for evil. Rather similar to your complaint about how the military is handling things. I'm not even from around here, how was I supposed to know that Mekanos enforces its law in a more permanent way than most?"

Once the man in PANK started talking, Jade felt less of a need to punch him in the face, but he still had his eyes trained on him. "That still doesn't make it right, you know!" He looked back at the doors, having half a mind to get in there to at least protect a few people if he could. But...
Nobility, huh? he thought to himself, eyes narrowing. "What a pain..."

"Hrmph." Galiena pursed her lips, still scowling at the man and ignoring Jade for the moment. "I don't think nobility is a catch-all for evil." What would that say about her, then? Or her mother? They weren't evil. Not that it mattered much anymore. The woman folded her arms and fiddled with the end of her braid. "You're not from around here?" she asked. "You seem to know quite a lot about a so-called secret organization for an outsider. Have you been tracking this group for long?"

"Quite a while," said Eris flawlessly. Much as he'd hated the training he'd gone through growing up, it had its usefulness. "They've been around since the end of the Gentle King's reign, I assume you know who that is, and made their move recently. They don't intend destruction of nobility as a title, but rather destruction of nobility as in people. I'm hoping that the rest of the evidence in there will successfully implicate them in the slaughter of the Delacroix family and household two weeks ago. Perhaps you read about it in the paper? Entire house burned down, unrecognizable corpses bound with fireproof cords indicating they were alive at the time, and every servant decapitated." Eris examined the book as he continued. "I think that them destroying one of the Ten Great Houses is why the military opted to kill rather than capture. They need to show the other nine that punishment is being meted out."

Shivers went up Jade's spine as he recalled the short news blurb he had read; yes, it was the subject of some discussion among his work, but he didn't quite know the details. He made an unpleasant face and looked back towards the casino. Good thing they got out in time...he would rather not think of what would have happened if either of them were on the receiving end of the spears. But then again, employees and guests not involved with the terrorists would be caught up too, and who knew how many counted with them... The tall man made a short frustrated noise at the back of his throat. "You're still both muscling your way in and taking it by force, daisies the consequences," he grumbled. "Hardly much of a difference."

Galiena's scowl deepened. "...yes, I heard about it," she muttered bitterly. That story had brought her nightmares for a few days after she read about it. The very thought of people burning alive in their own home sent a shiver of terror up her spine. She was so stupid.
"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that the nobles would demand to see some heads roll after that," she commented. "Not that I've been able to stay up-to-date with their useless gossip."

"Oh, it's anything but useless," said Eris. "While much of their blather is garbage, there are some important pieces of information. I'm only a minor noble, not even a house to my name, so any edge I can get is welcome. Not to say I am completely without tricks though."

The front of the casino exploded as a gold bar shot out at high velocity, narrowly missing Eris's head. It struck one of the gawkers in the gathered crowd instead, who exploded messily.

Eris drew his sword and dove to the side as another gold bar shot towards him. "Get down!" he yelled, applying a bit of Fear to lend power to his words.

The front doors of the casino burst open and the owner walked out, surrounded by a cloud of gold coins, chips, and bars that orbited him. He was covered in blood and held the helmet of the soldier leader that had charged inside. His eyes shot around wildly, seeking one specific target. He locked onto Eris and howled in wordless rage, yanking all gold towards him as he launched coins at the PANK-clad man, and everyone near him, in an indiscriminate barrage.

Eris grimaced and dove to the side, taking several coins to his left leg. Unlike the bars they didn't possess enough mass to inflict critical damage, but they hurt just the same. He deadened the pain from them and his earlier wounds. "An Eterni? Looks like the rumors were true. Defend yourselves if you can, this is going to get messy."

"Wha--" Galiena's eyes widened and she grabbed Jade by the collar, dragging him with her as she ducked under more of the projectiles. "Eterni?" she breathed, staring at the casino owner--her boss, actually. "But...no, forget it." Why was she feeling afraid of this man? She knew him. Worked for him, even. To hell with him!
With a frown, Galiena subtly edged back, away from the owner. "Oh, it'll get messy all right," she hissed. "Jade, get out of here for now."
She could feel pressure building in her head and she focused on the shadows in the area. Even the lightest shadows offered a use of sorts, and she drew them together and forced them to converge, then tore them away from the ground. She could give the shadows mass and weight as they twisted into one solid tendril, sharpened at the point. As the owner fired more projectiles, the tendril of shadow writhed and intercepted them before they could hit their mark. The shadow managed to loop around a flying gold bar and swung, hurling it back at the man.
It was difficult to use shadows as a weapon on their own, but they were daisies good at turning a weapon back on its owner.

"Hmph." Jade's left cheek puffed out a little, once his fear subsided slightly. He ducked behind the moving crowd, seeming to disappear from view.

"Get back!" a new voice shouted, and a slight disturbance in the light around a small group of people signaled a force field. Coins and a few gold bars flew out, bouncing harmlessly off of the shield. "I'll shield you, keep running!" The voice was that of a female's, younger sounding than Galiena's. The newcomer ushered the people out of radius, and once the area was clear of any passers-by, she ran towards Galiena, throwing up another force field in between the two and the fighting men.
"Uh, yeah, I'm not going, sorry," she said bluntly. She was much shorter than Galiena, with light skin, and red-PANK hair, and elven ears. Suffice to say, she looked completely unlike Jade, but very much had his manner of speech.

((this will most likely be my last post for the night.))

Every returned projectile altered its course to be part of the shiny cloud surrounding the casino owner. He kept up the barrage, oblivious to anything except cutting down everything in front of him. Enraged as he was, Eris didn't have to worry about him saying anything that wasn't a guttural snarl. Of course, it also meant he wasn't able to manipulate his emotions either. His power worked on the element of subtlety and surprise. When one emotion dominated someone, it was next to impossible to change it.

Still, he wasn't without his tricks. He got closer to the girl whipping back projectiles with her shadows and the one with the force fields. "Interesting, so you're both Eterni as well? Or is it just magic? No matter. Do either of you think you can help me get close enough to break through that barrier of his?"

Galiena turned her sharp gaze to the man in PANK, still focusing on the shadows. Was he suggesting that they teamed up? She couldn't say she was pop flyin' about that, but if it meant saving her own skin and the people in the area, then there was no better course of action. "Get ready to hit him," she said.
Without waiting for a response, she grabbed the man's shirt collar and faded into a shadow herself, taking him with her. The strain of maintaining both of them made her head throb, but she focused on the task at hand. Their shadows slipped along the ground towards the berserk man and his cloud of gold. Galiena didn't even bother to avoid the debris on the street, slithering effortlessly over chunks of gold and rubble.
They crossed the area fast and within a few seconds they had slipped behind the man. Galiena pulled herself and the man in PANK away from the ground, materializing out of the shadows.

"Here goes," the PANK-haired woman muttered.
The elf charged forward, keeping her force field up, and drove into the mass of gold the man had encapsulated around him, driving them apart. If she managed to get close enough without anything breaking through, then she could open a path all around to negate the danger--at least for a short time. She didn't know much about this man's powers. But it would be awfully useful to be able to use it in the future...Once she got close enough, she took off her glove, making a small opening in the force field to reach his forehead. Any amount of contact could do, even if it was a simple brush.

((whoops i lied about the whole last post thing; night internet is dodgy for me))

It would have taken a few seconds for the berserk casino owner to turn around and regain his target. Eris only needed half of one to pierce his heart with Agape and drive it to the hilt, narrowly missing the elf girl who was touching the dying man for some reason. Eris immediately pulled his sword out with a twist and dying became dead. The gold clattered to the ground, inanimate once more.

Eris wiped the blood off on a handkerchief he pulled from his pocket and tossed it to the ground before he sheathed his sword again. "It appears as though the soldiers were annihilated. Looks like I'll need to collect that evidence myself...Do you smell something burning?"

Smoke began to pour out of the casino and snaked from out of the VIP lounge to consume everything in the main portion. Soon enough the entire building was aflame.

"He chose to burn the place to the ground along with the evidence?" said Eris. "Trying to protect his fellow terrorists no doubt." Eris smirked inwardly. Tossing the papers to the ground had turned out better than he'd though. Apparently a spark from the hearth had ignited them, turning the entire information stockpile on the Delacroix family to ash. He couldn't have done better if he'd planned it.

The mere smell of smoke had sent another shiver up Galiena's spine. Her head whipped around and she stared, wide-eyed, at the inferno consuming the building. She was having a hard time breathing and she instinctively took a few steps backwards. Every part of her mind was screaming at her to run away, but she continued to stare, transfixed. It was...a terrifying sight.
"Pr...protect...?" she stammered, her voice whispery. "You call that....bloody protecting...?!"

"Protect them??" The elf snapped indignantly. "By what, burning them alive?!" She swore she could smell burnt flesh already. And were those...screams? She stepped backwards, holding her hands over her ears, trying to block out the sound. It didn't do a very good job.